UWS Myanmar

QS provides funding for 6 satellite schools in Myanmar

After the successful school-building project last year in Cambodia, Quadstar has again teamed up with UWS to fully fund the set-up and year 1 running costs for 6 satellite schools in Myanmar (formerly Burma). These satellite schools will be set up in remote villages in the Tachilelk District of the Shan State. This district is home to several tribal groups; communities speak their own tribal languages and have been isolated from mainstream Myanmar society for many years. The region is mountainous, with a very poor road network, scant basic infrastructure and no access to state education – which has resulted in the communities struggling themselves to fill the educational gap with severely limited resources.

One of villages is home to several tribal groups where poverty is widespread and the nearest government school is over a 2-hour walk away. The community have created a temporary school in a local church and pay a local government teacher (who has undergone only basic training) to run this makeshift facility on a sporadic basis when they can afford to. With QS’s support UWS plan to utilise and revamp the existing facilities as well as provide salaries and vital educational resources here to ensure quality and sustainable educational provision for approximately 40 children.

In a second village education had been provided in a fairly well-developed community-built structure, funded by the owner of a nearby rubber farm. Unfortunately when this support stopped, some years, ago the community was unable to afford the teachers’ salaries and associated costs to keep the school open. With QS’s help, UWS wants to get this school up and running once again, for the benefit of approximately 30 children. As well as funding the salary and training costs of the two teachers, the plan is to provide access to clean water at this site to help to protect these children’s basic health and wellbeing.

A third proposed school is in a remote farming community, where the children invariably drop out of government school due to the long travel distance. A basic school building exists, but insufficient funds mean that it has not been functioning and that the local children currently have no access to education at all. In partnership with QS, UWS will be able to make initial repairs to the building to ensure it is fit for learning, and then equip the school with learning resources such as whiteboards, desks, benches, textbooks and stationary which will be refreshed throughout the year.

These satellite schools are essential to support children in the hardest-to-reach areas gain some basic education and QS is delighted to play a part in helping make this happen. As well as training and salaries of class teachers and resources, QS’s investment in this project with allow UWS’s Satellite School Fund in Myanmar to provide education officers and training community teachers along with a School Support Committee for each school, to try to maximise their potential sustainability.

The aim is to open the three community schools described above by November, with the remainder following in a second phase next year.